FMCG giant Mondelez International has partnered with Facebook, giving the owner of Cadbury and Oreo access to the social network’s site’s beta-testing programs and research.
The firms will use the partnership to leverage their relative scale to deliver what was described as “step-change brand building, ground-breaking innovation, and access to research, training, and capabilities.”
The Dentsu Aegis Network was involved in negotiating the partnership, which includes 52 countries, including the UK, US, France, Brazil, India, and Indonesia.
“Our recent campaigns with brands like Cadbury Creme Egg, Milka and Nilla Wafers demonstrated that Facebook can drive business growth, and this made us rethink our media approach,” said Bonin Bough, Vice President of Global Media and Consumer Engagement, Mondelez International. “For the first time, we’ll be able to incorporate Facebook at the core of our media investment plans. This isn’t just about having a social media strategy; it’s about digitizing our entire approach to communications.”
Meanwhile, Carolyn Everson, VP-global marketing solutions for Facebook, noted that, “as an industry, we’re shifting back to a more personal way of marketing, leveraging technology to bring a personal touch to business with the scale and efficiency of mass media”.
The snack food giant recently indicated it was aiming to double the proportion of its media budget spent on digital and mobile channels to 50% over the next three years, after research showed that digital programming drove twice the ROI of traditional TV advertising.
Case studies- Facebook getting more ROI than TV?
Mondelez’s recent experiences with Facebook have reinforced the company’s belief that the social media market leader can be a useful tool in driving sales.
As an example, Mondelez recently used Facebook to reinvigorate its Nilla Wafers brand and boost sales. A study showed Nilla Wafers sales increased 9% in test market locations among consumers who saw Facebook ads versus a control group of consumers over the course of a five-month campaign.
The Facebook ad campaign for Nilla Wafers also was able to reach 11.3 million households through 190 million total impressions (16.8 impressions per household).
In another example, Mondelez increased Crème Egg sales by 7% by switching ad spend from TV to Facebook. The social media campaign that invited people to ‘Have a fling with Crème Egg’ on Facebook, creating a long series of one-off posts that fed into an overall narrative across the three months.
The firm’s analytics showed that of the overall ROI (in terms of purchase intent of the viewer), 18% was driven by Facebook and 20% from TV advertising, even though the budget for social was around one-third the size of that spent on TV.
Key stats from Creme Egg “Have a Fling” Facebook activity
• Facebook matched TV in driving brand consideration for a third of the cost.
• Kantar ROI research shows consumers exposed to both TV and Facebook were 66 per cent more likely to purchase than the expected combined effect of both.
• Reached over 90 per cent of their 18-24 UK target audience, 9 times each on average.
• Drove 5 million active interactions with a total unique reach of over 15 million unique consumers.
• 15.2m Facebook users were exposed to the posts, with an average frequency of 7.6 impressions.
• 18-24 year-old users were reached nine times on average.
• 4.63m interactions were driven by paid media at a cost of 8p cost per engagement.
• As a result, sales of Crème Eggs increased by 7%.